Police Committee to focus on five matters in Port Elizabeth tomorrow
The Portfolio Committee on Police will visit the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape tomorrow after a surge in gang related shooting incidents and violence as well as calls from community members for a parliamentary intervention.
The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Francois Beukman, said that the committee will focus on five matters during the one day oversight visit; The anti-gang capacity of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Port Elizabeth; the relationship between local communities and SAPS; the resource allocation of SAPS stations in areas where gang violence are prevalent; the functionality of Community Police Forums and neighbourhood watches in the affected areas; and the effectiveness of specialised units of SAPS in the Eastern Cape.
The committee is of the view that fully-fledged and well-resourced anti-gang units should be rolled out to all Metropolitan Areas in the Republic.
As part of the visit the committee also invited the Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Legislature's Oversight Committee, Mr Michael Peter and Members' of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature to accompany the committee on the oversight visit.
During the visit the committee will have engagements with the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS, Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga on efforts to deal with trio-crimes in the Eastern Cape, and the committee will also receive briefings from the Directorate of Priority Crime Inspectorate (DPCI) and Indipended Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Beukman said it was vital that local communities work closely with law enforcement agencies to deal with endemic violence and organised crime.
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Malatswa Molepo
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